A Child Called It

A Child Called "It": One Child's Courage to Survive by Dave Pelzer

This is a nonfiction memoir that follows Dave as a child and his struggles with an abusive mother and a negligent father.  He speaks out about his traumatic childhood and how he was saved.

I give this memoir a 7 out of 10


It's very difficult to rank a memoir.  Clearly the author has very little control over the story itself but they do have control over how the story is told.  If you are going to write a book about your experiences I would think you'd have to know how to write it out in a way that makes it interesting to the general public but still remaining truthful.
It is also hard to review something that is generally seen as a classic.  But I read it so I feel the need to review it.  I actually read this because I had the feeling that it was just one of those books you had to read at some point in your life.  I hate to say it but I was slightly disappointed.  And I am absolutely NOT trying to discredit Mr. Pelzers story in anyway.  What he went through was more terrible than I could ever describe or try to imagine.  I'm not saying his story was not heartbreaking and shocking, what I focused on was the way it was written.  The feel of the writing was very blunt which gave the events a very harsh and flat tone.  I didn't feel like I was reading something in story form but almost like a text book.  The word choices and sentence structure just seemed a bit simple as if written by a child writing a school reflection.  I still think it is an interesting read however and if you've never read it before it's one you should probably add to your list.  But if you're looking for an soul stirring beautifully written piece of literature this might not be it, but it is an honest shocking recollection of a boy and his battle with child abuse.